In the wake of the Solar Union’s stunning victory over the Tokomak - the masters of the galactic community - humanity has been invited to send a diplomatic mission to the Kingdom of Harmonious Order, one of the oldest and most significant races in known space. It is an opportunity that cannot be missed, a chance to forge ties with a powerful ally. And so a lone starship is dispatched to the galactic core to open discussions ...

... But when that starship runs into a deadly trap, she and her crew must battle their way home before they are merely the first casualties in a renewed war.

Product description

Product Description

In the wake of the Solar Union’s stunning victory over the Tokomak - the masters of the galactic community - humanity has been invited to send a diplomatic mission to the Kingdom of Harmonious Order, one of the oldest and most significant races in known space. It is an opportunity that cannot be missed, a chance to forge ties with a powerful ally. And so a lone starship is dispatched to the galactic core to open discussions ...

... But when that starship runs into a deadly trap, she and her crew must battle their way home before they are merely the first casualties in a renewed war.

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Outnumbered in a hostile galaxy humanity reaches out for allies. Problem is aliens are alien. Trapped behind lines the crew of the Odyssey have to come up with one trick after another to survive. A well named ship by the way. Plenty of action, exploding fortresses and ships sneaking around while being hunted like a submarine. The problems of being a diplomat to an alien culture where values are different and agendas are not only unclear but are deliberately lied about is explored. I'll be getting the next one, the war is about to start!

Most helpful customer reviews on Amazon.com

Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars
49 reviews

Keith Glass

5.0 out of 5 starsSlow start, but picks up nicely. . .

26 March 2017 - Published on Amazon.com

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This is a different sort of book for Nuttall, but his "A Learning Experience" universe setting is starting to change as well. This book follows the voyage of the starship Odyssey (I know, its' five year mission....) to meet an Elder Race called the Harmonies. They've asked for an Ambassador from the Solar Union.

The set-up is longer than Nuttall's typical tales of the inky blackness of space, but ends up being crucial to the trademark plot twists of his books. In reality, this is a bridging book, because the main act of the saga is warming up: the Second Tokamak-Human War....

5.0 out of 5 starsConsistent treatment of the setting, good character development (Spoiler free!)

29 November 2017 - Published on Amazon.com

Verified Purchase

The Good Stuff:Consistent treatment of a setting, and the characters' thought process in how to deal with a very bad situation they find themselves in. The characters do come up with some non-obvious tricks to enable them to deal with enemies that vastly outnumber them. The characters are different enough that you have no problems keeping them mentally separated, even coming back to the book after a break of a couple weeks.

What I would like to see improved:The one character who's the biggest hero of the book is basically a cipher, getting far less development than other significant characters. Also, I have to ask precisely what the antagonists thought they'd gain - the protagonists *couldn't* give in to their demands, and they should have known it.

I'd give this book a solid 9 out of 10. By Amazon standards, a five star product.

I am a Nuttall fan and I like some of his books and not some others. This one falls into the latter category. I wanted to like this one because I like the idea of Earth emerging into the Galaxy and trying to establish a foothold in space against tough odds.

The worst thing about this book is the undeniable fact that the people do not act like human beings -- they appear to be a species of unisexual automatons. The women act exactly like men. The attempts at "romance" in this novel are laughable, and make human romance out to be more like a reflex, like scratching an itch, a business transaction, or the like -- there is no actual "romance" at all. It's weird. I guess this is of a piece of Nuttall's "Politically Correct" writing ethos that women are just as tough as men, female marines are just as big, strong, and tough as the men, etc. that recurs in almost all of his novels. Sometimes I can put this issue aside and enjoy the story, but here the way the men and women interact is just plain strange.

Trying to put the man-woman issue aside, this one is a dull slog. Nuttall makes the common military science fiction error of equating battle scene after battle scene with actual storytelling. Frankly, most SF battle sequences are nothing but technobabble, and that is the case here. What is missing is an interesting and changing storyline that holds the reader's interest. Nope, the Odyssey goes to its diplomatic mission, and then heads back (no spoilers here). That's about it. The pace is slow, with Nuttall attempting to hold the reader's interest with the aforesaid technobabble battles. It does not work. RJB.

Another great book! I liked this series since I read Book 1! The only problem is the long time between books! I got book 1 & 2 in 2014, book 3 in 2015 and this book in July of 2017! Even great writings like this series should not take that long!

Yet another amazing book.I am rather addicted to this author. In fact, my only complaint is that, even though he is prolific, and quite speedy in releasing move!s, I read them faster than he can write them. If someone would please intravenously feed him coffee while strapping him to a word processor, I'd be very grateful.Kidding aside, buy everything Nuttall has written, and enjoy.